RFK Jr To Endorse Trump On Friday Morning
Update (5:15pm ET): As we speculated earlier, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. indeed plans to end his independent presidential campaign and endorse former President Donald Trump, NBC news reported citing two sources familiar with the plans.
The sources cautioned that talks are ongoing, but there will be clarity by the end of the week. One of the sources said the campaigns are working toward a joint appearance.
The decision to drop out will end the most prominent third-party candidacy in the 2024 race. Kennedy announced Wednesday that he will give a campaign speech addressing “his path forward,” days after his running mate said the campaign faced a choice about staying in the 2024 election or dropping out to back Donald Trump.
Kennedy’s campaign announced he will hold the event in Phoenix on Friday. Trump, meanwhile, is also set to host an event on Friday night, in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb.
Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy's running mate, said Tuesday that the ticket was weighing two options. One was to stay in the race and "risk" a Harris-Walz presidency, as she put it in a podcast interview, while the other option was to drop out of the race and "join forces" with Trump.
Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, told NBC News in an interview Wednesday that "there's been a lot of communication back and forth" between Kennedy and his campaign.
"I haven’t spoken to RFK personally, but I know there’s been a lot of communication back and forth between RFK, between the campaign, between this campaign," Vance said. "Look, our argument to RFK, and I’ll make it right now, because, of course, he hasn’t dropped out yet, is, look: If you want a Democratic Party that protected American workers and stood for strong borders, maybe disagreed with Republicans on things like tax policy, that party doesn’t exist anymore."
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Amid a flurry of speculation that he will endorse Donald Trump (following news reports - which he since denied - that he failed to clinch a cabinet job with Kamala Harris in exchange for his endorsement there), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said he will make a speech in Phoenix on Friday, his campaign announced, as the independent presidential candidate considers whether to drop out of the race and endorse former President Donald Trump.
The campaign said Kennedy will “address the nation” Friday morning, without sharing details of what he will be speaking about.
Kennedy’s speech will come days after his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said in a podcast interview on Tuesday that the campaign is considering whether to “join forces” with Trump to prevent the “risk” of Vice President Kamala Harris winning the election.
Overnight, in an interview Trump said that he would certainly consider a cabinet position for RFK Jr in exchange for an endorsement.
"I would love that endorsement because I've always liked him" Trump said.
Then when asked if he would also consider adding him to the administration, Trump responded that "I like him a lot I respect him a lot uh I probably would if something like that would happen... He's very different kind of a guy, very smart guy, and yeah I would be honored by that endorsement certainly."
"He's a brilliant guy he's a very smart guy I've known him for a long time I didn't know he was thinking about getting out but if he is thinking about getting out certainly I'd be open to it"
On Friday we will learn if RFK Jr is also open to it, with some speculating that RFK would make a great head of Trump's CIA, which would be ironic considering what the CIA did to JFK...